Before starting preschool 1 many of my students didn’t like sharing the toys. Now they share with their friends and play together. Before they didn’t know how to wait their turn, now they raise their hand to speak and wait for others to finish talking. Before they only knew a few letters, now most know the whole alphabet and some can write their names. Before they cried if things didn’t go their way. Now they know how to use their big voices and cooperate with their friends. Before they didn’t understand English. Now they can follow directions, answer questions and speak in full sentences in English. I am so proud of the many ways my students have grown this year. I am excited to see all that they will accomplish next year in preschool 2. Congratulation for finishing preschool 1!

~ Miss Christine

The secondary students know the importance of setting goals for yourself and working smartly towards meeting those goals. The high schoolers set goals for how much they want to accomplish in each quarter (or 9 week period) so that they will finish all of their classes by the end of our school year. Then each week they plan what they need to do in order to meet that goal. During the last few weeks, we’ve been meeting to discuss their progress and to readjust their plans if necessary.

The 7th graders have learned to set specific goals in English class this month. They chose 3 goals that they wanted to focus on for a creative writing project. This helps to give them a direction in their writing, and to understand their own strengths and weaknesses.

Learning how to set goals, make plans, and readjust your plans based on your actual progress are skills that will help our students in university and in whatever endeavors they choose to pursue in life!

~ Ms. Sarah Wheeler

Kindergarten and First Grade has had a great semester this year. We have enjoyed learning all kinds of new things. The students especially love learning about how they are a part of God’s world around them. In social studies, we have been learning about the different communities that we are a part of. In this unit the students learned about the different things that a community needs, such as community workers, economics, and government. At the end of the unit, the students designed a city based on what they learned. It was a lot of fun, and the students were very creative in how they wanted their city to look!

~ Ms. Cassie Mock

Last month the 3rd grade class did a Science unit on endangered animals. Our class is full of animal lovers, so they embraced this study with enthusiasm. Among the animals studied were Bengal tigers, black-footed ferrets, and polar bears. We also talked about the endangered animals in our big backyard of Rwanda-the Mountain Gorillas. To learn more about these majestic gorillas, we took a trip to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The staff there were friendly and they answered the questions that our students had. We walked through their exhibit and learned things we never knew about Rwanda’s Mountain Gorillas. Here are some things that our class learned…..

Did you know?

• Each gorilla has unique nose markings (like our fingerprints). This helps the researchers keep track of each one.
• Snares and traps are a big problem in the forest. Gorillas get caught in them by accident and can hurt themselves trying to get out.
• Gorillas are herbivores that eat bamboo, thistles, berries, and other grasses.
• Rwanda’s protection and community education programs have helped to bring the endangered Mountain Gorilla population from around 400 to almost 900 in the past eighteen years.

We were blessed to learn more about how we can help these animals and what Rwanda is doing to preserve their species as well!

If you want to learn more about the Mountain Gorillas or other endangered animals, check out these websites: www.gorillafund.org | www.worldwildlife.org

~ Miss Andrea Miller

The Kindergarten class was kind enough to lend us a kitchen set for the Math Room. We set up a “Home Center” and “Supermarket.” The children quickly learned to purchase items, ring up their totals on a cash register, pay for their purchases and how to count out their change. Good purchasing and math concepts were learned.

Humpty Dumpty is a new nursery rhyme addition to our preschool. Also, when learning about another nursery rhyme, Jack and the Beanstalk, we planted five “Magic Beans” and one is growing into a nice VVA beanstalk!

~ Ms. Sue Bruce

It is hard to believe we have come to the end of our first semester. It is amazing to look back at all that we have studied. We have learned about ourselves and our friends and our families and how to relate to each other.

We have explored giants made by nature such as mountains, waterfalls and icebergs. We have learned about giants made by people like skyscrapers, bridges and the Great Wall of China.

We spent four weeks talking about choices. We can make thoughtful, helpful, safe and smart choices.

We are currently learning about tools that we use to build and create. Today we baked a pretend birthday cake using imaginary tools from the kitchen. All my students delighted in this activity complete with imaginary candles to blow out on our imaginary birthday cake.

It has been a joy to watch them make new discoveries and use their imaginations everyday.

May you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

~ Miss Christine Crowson

At the end of the first semester, I would like to talk about some activities that have taken place in Nursery class. We usually begin class talking about good behavior. Then we explore the world by sharing some experiences such as examining leaves to see how they are the same and how they are different.  We have been studying the human body and we have learned about foods that we eat.

We also studied colors and things in our environment such as the sun and trees. We practice these activities using songs and games. The children like drawing and beginning writing. We welcomed three new students in our class. They are doing well. I am so happy with the improvements of all my students.

~ Claudette Komezurukundo

Preschool 1 is off to a great start this year. One of our favorite songs at the beginning of the year was “This is My School Family!” We have truly become a family for each other. The children are learning to be kind to one another, help each other and listen when someone is using their “big words.”

I have been encouraged by each child’s progress as we have covered a wide variety of Language, Science, Math and Social Studies concepts, all in English! We look forward to discovering much more together as the school year continues!

~ Christine Crowson